I have issues with quotation marks.

[Mistress Bella Muerte]

LucidRain

This is something I have been comfused on for over a year. I need to know which example below is correct. If they are wrong, someone please post the correct form

"I said 'I don't know.'" Wrong.
"I said, 'I don't know.'" This one is commonly correct. In this case, if what you are quoting (I don't know) is ALL that you said, and the original quote ended in a period (.), then this is how it would be quoted, with the period inside the single quote. Also, include the comma after "said" if you are quoting direct speech in whole. Note that if I quote "said", I am not using a comma after "quote" because I am only quoting one word from the entire statement. If I quote the entire statement it would be quoted like so: you said, "'I said, "I don't know."'" Also, if you are quoting inside a quote inside a quote, revert to double quotations. Confusing, I know...
"I said, 'I don't know'." In this case, you would be quoting a section of a whole statement, as stated above.
"I said 'I don't know'." Wrong.
"I said I don't know." Wrong.

I hope this helps.  

[Kairi_12]

I do believe the second one is correct.